### Return To Chaos

# Controlling Your Party

When you have selected at least one champion, the mouse pointer will change from an arrow pointer to a hand pointer whenever it moves into the dungeon view or is near an object box. The hand pointer represents the hand of the party leader; it is your direct link into the dungeon. The leader can pick up, put down and throw things your party finds, open and close doors, and other direct actions. To select a new leader, click on the name of a character at the top of the screen; the leaders name is shown in a different colour to the other party members.

To pick up or put down objects, point with the mouse and press the left button. To throw an object bring it up to eye level and left-click - remember that it is the leader who is throwing; the distance travelled will be a function of their strength and dexterity. The leaders hand can also move levers, press buttons or operate other controls found in the dungeon. To operate a control, the party must stand directly in front of the wall that contains it. Some features, such as locks, require another object, such as a key, before they may be used; simply move the object over the item and click with the left mouse button.

The game screen is divided into three main areas; information about your characters is shown at the top, menus for controlling them on the right and the large left centre area shows either your parties view of the dungeon or the inventory of a particular champion.

A box at the top of the screen represents each champion showing their name, status, and what they are holding in their hands. Their status is shown as three bar graphs; from left to right, health, stamina and Mana. When a champion is injured their health will drop; if it reaches zero they will die. Stamina will decrease after running, or intense battle; once it drops below half the champion will find it harder to carry heavy loads and their speed will steadily decrease. Mana decreases as the champion casts spells.

Each champion has a "ready" hand, shown to the left, and an "action" hand, shown to the right. The ready hand holds ammunition for ranged weapons such as bows or crossbows; such a weapon will not work unless the ready hand is carrying the ammunition it needs. After firing a ranged weapon the ready hand will automatically draw new ammunition, if available, from the champions quiver. The action hand normally holds a weapon each of which will have its own special abilities; for example a sword can thrust, an axe can chop or a wand can cast a spell. Note however that some actions that an object may be capable of may be beyond your champions current skills; as your character gains in experience more options may become available for you to use.

To the centre right are a series of icons representing the actions of the objects held in your champions action hands; these may appear blank if no actions are available. When you click on an action icon a menu will appear showing the actions that can be performed with this object; clicking on the action name will cause the character to perform that action. Whilst a character is occupied with the action the icon will appear darkened and cannot be selected again until the action is finished.

Just above the action icons is the spell area. To cast a spell, you must first select which champion will cast it. The top of the spell menu contains a button for each member of your party; select the desired champion and their name will appear in place of the button. Below this are six spaces for the runes; initially only the power runes will be displayed, once one has been recited they will be replaced by the runes of element and so on. In many dungeons you will not start with knowledge of some or all of the runes, in which case they will not appear in the spell area; once you have learned a new rune it will become available to cast. To attempt to recite a rune click on it with the left mouse button; if you have sufficient Mana the rune will be activated and appear in the area below. Once you have spoken all the runes for your spell, click in this area to cast the spell. Pressing the recant arrow to the right causes the last rune uttered to be called back and removed from the spell. Although this may be used to correct mistakes, the Mana expended in voicing the rune is lost.

In the top right of the screen are small icons representing the relative positions of your party members; the top of the screen represents the forward direction. Note that the colour of each champions icon matches the colour of their bar graph. It is important to pay attention to how champions are positioned; those using swords, or other swung weapons, should be at the front of the party so they may confront any foes ahead. To switch the position of two champions click on the first, move the mouse pointer to the second and click again. Your champions will nearly always want to face forwards, but if your party is outflanked and attacked from the sides or rear then they will turn to face the enemy; after the battle has ended, clicking on them with the right mouse button will turn them back again.

The six movement buttons will allow your party to move forwards, back, left or right a single step without changing the direction they are facing, or rotate to the left or right but remaining in the same place. Movement may be activated by either clicking on the arrows using the mouse or by using the keyboard shortcuts (either the arrow keys, Insert-Page down keys or number pad keys).

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